Page 500 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

CINMA BANNER PAINTING 497

the cinema banner painters are students of those migrant artists. The new generation
is not quite interested to continue this work anymore because of financial insecurity.
Some of the artists have either shifted to other professions already or are thinking of
shifting for the same reason. Those who are still following this trade are more or less
bound to carry on. They say, ‘We do not have any option other than doing this as we
haven’t learnt anything else. How will we survive if we don’t do it?’ In spite of the
financial insecurity and scarcity of work, these impoverished artists depict the
portraits of alluring heroines, mighty action heroes and vicious villains of the silver
screen on their canvases with bright, vibrant colors. These attract the audience. The
producers/distributors profit if the film hits the box office. But who cares about the
artists behind the scene, of these colossal, brightly colored paintings?

Notes and References
1. Ajaykumar Dey, ‘Chalachchitrer Shatabarsha o Bangla Chalachchitra’, Nirmalya Acharya and
Dibbendu Palit (ed.), Shatabarsher Chalachchitra, (Kolkata 1998), 419.
2. Ibid. 438. It was informed in the editorial footnote-1 that Nityoprio Ghosh indicated the date as 18
January, 1897. The source of this information was The Englishman, 18 January 1897.
3. Anupam Hayat, Purano Dhakar Sanskritik Prosango, (Dhaka 2001), 69.
4. Bangladesher Chalachchitrer Itihas, Anupam Hayat, (1987), p.4.
5. Ibid., (1987), 6-8. ‘Cinema Palace’ and ‘Rangam’ were established in Chittagong in the ’20s of this
century. ‘Banee Cinema’ (the name was later changed to ‘Diamond’ cinema) was established in
Narayanganj in 1929-1930. In the ’30s more cinema halls were built in and outside Dhaka. Early in this
decade there was a hall at Sadarghat in Dhaka named ‘Chitraloy’. Almost at the same time there were
other halls established in Bogra and Dinajpur named ‘Minar’ and ‘Lily’. At the end of this decade there
was another new hall established in Faridpur named ‘Mayalok’. In the late 30’s ‘Manasi’ (Nishat) was
built in the Bangshal area of Dhaka. In the early 40’s ‘Nagormahal’(Chitramahal) and in the late 40’s
‘Maya’(Star) were established in Dhaka. Two more cinema halls of that time are extinct now. They
were ‘New Paradise’ and ‘Brittania’.
6. Mirza Tarekul Kader, Bangladesher Chalachchitra Shilpa, (Dhaka 1993), 395.
7. Ibid, 396.
8. Loc.cit.
9. The Dainik Prothom Alo, 18 August, 2005. Weekly 2000, vol.3 no.30, 1 December 2000. The
information of the closure of more than 300 cinema halls is gathered from the article written by Ruhul
Taposh in the Saptahik 2000.
10. Interviews by the author of- S.Moyeen (Dhaka, 15 June, 2005), Azizur Rahman (Dhaka, 16 June,
2005), Abdul Wahab (Syedpur, 9 July, 2005).
11. Some people mentioned this institution of Pitalram Sur as ‘Art Hall’ or ‘Art Company’. However, artist
Bideshkumar Dhar(1949- ), who worked there as an apprentice, supported the opinion that it was
named ‘Art House’.
12. An interview by the author of S.Moyeen (Dhaka,15 June, 2005).
13. An interview by the author of Bideshkumar Dhar (Dhaka, 31 December, 2005).
14. Subhash Dutta, Tomar Jonyo Bhalobasha, (Dhaka 2005), 12-14.
15. Interviews with the author of Nitun Kundu (Dhaka, 17 June, 2005) and Azizur Rahman (Dhaka, 16
June, 2005).